tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post309796221194304279..comments2024-01-06T18:34:30.188-08:00Comments on I Witness: Zeitlin's ZeitgeistIWitnessEdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18312808828448124509noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post-77335921863411306732009-08-17T08:27:27.936-07:002009-08-17T08:27:27.936-07:00Hello, Red. Beauty is in the ear of the beholder, ...Hello, Red. Beauty is in the ear of the beholder, wouldn't you say? But this stuff is way above my pay grade... From Gary Giddins' liner notes to Sonny Rollins' great Road Shows CD: "For Rollins, it ((change in jazz)) means a personal growth animated by the belief that tomorrow he will play a better solo than he has ever played before. He recently observed that one cannot improvise and think at the same time, and his entire career can be viewed as the passage to an inexpressible perfection." Rollins? or Zeitlin? It's a false choice.IWitnessEdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18312808828448124509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post-12557134240244706902009-08-16T13:12:44.784-07:002009-08-16T13:12:44.784-07:00Zeitlin's music, though, is very "Beautif...Zeitlin's music, though, is very "Beautiful"!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post-81539574097611188072009-08-10T17:36:25.412-07:002009-08-10T17:36:25.412-07:00Perhaps I might have said A Keats, AN Elvis, etc.-...Perhaps I might have said A Keats, AN Elvis, etc.--I wanted to suggest generic arts figures partly attaining veneration due to dying young, etc. No matter how great their work, the veneration was kick-started by death and such, and we are forever subject to such foolishness (Jim Morrison, John Belushi, Kurt Cobain, the fine young actor who played the Joker in film recently)--the artist's true worth somewhat obscured by the biographic details, whether sordid or tragic. And then there's the cult of celebrityhood... Arts judgments should not be so misapprehended.IWitnessEdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18312808828448124509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post-35737063133971978162009-08-10T13:06:52.302-07:002009-08-10T13:06:52.302-07:00I'm unfamiliar with Dr. Zeitlin's musician...I'm unfamiliar with Dr. Zeitlin's musicianship, so I can't comment on him as an exemplar of the artist who thinks too much. However, you make me uneasy with your reference to "the silly American veneration of artists who quit the field early, or retreat into madness, or die too young, whether Keats or Elvis, Jackson Pollack or Clifford Brown." I didn't realize that Keats ever attained pop-iconic status on this side of the pond, but Elvis was venerated as early as 1956, near the start of his career, long before he (take your pick) quit the field early, retreated into madness, or died too young. Jackson Pollack was also quite faddish during his lifetime, as attested by his coverage in LIFE magazine. And if you mean to suggest that the elevation of Clifford Brown into the pantheon of jazz trumpeters is nothing more than "silly American veneration," I'm afraid either your ears or your judgment are failing in your dotage, my friend. (Welcome to the club.) Still, your larger point is valid. By all accounts, Charlie Parker was a highly (no pun intended) intelligent man, and certainly wielded unrivaled technique. Yet, for me, his most compelling statement on record is "Parker's Mood" (1948), a relatively simple but thoroughly superlative blues. I guess German poet Christoph Martin Wieland was right: "<i>Minder ist oft mehr.</i>"Alan Kurtznoreply@blogger.com